A Place in the Sun...

Update (Lesson 2)...

First of all I have to say that I think if I just would have made a post to my blog "Please Give Me All of Your Best Advice on Training My Lil" I would have been better off. You all have such great suggestions and I think the only thing this puppy training class is accomplishing is confusing Lil...Lil already knows the "sit" command she learned that one immediately as a tiny little pup (she is very smart)the instructors in class do not want me to use the word "sit" with her they want me to use a piece of a treat to coax her into the sit positon....Lil has know idea what the heck is expected of her and until she sits "their" way (we tried cheating: I whispered "sit" and of course Lil "sat" and I gave her a great big piece of cheese we were extremely proud of ourselves until we realized that we had been caught and the trainer was standing looking at us and shaking his head No...DANG Double DANG!!) we can't work on the next command which is "come", the "come" command is really the one Lil and I need to focus on...Lil thinks "come" means stalk off to any where other then where I am telling her to be...she finds any piece of furniture in the house and immediately puts herself between it and me the minute I say "come" and then she stands there staring at me thru her beady little eyes challenging me to "come" and get her. Lil is an absolute joy to have in this house and I mean that in the sincerest way she is funny and sweet and she has an amazing little personality I do not wish to change her little personality in any way. I really only have two things that I was hoping to get out of the puppy classes...I was hoping to get her a little more acceptable of new dogs (she trys to kill all new dogs regardless of shape or size) and I was hoping to be able to take her for a walk without needing to perform mouth to mouth recessation on her after every step (she pulls so hard on her leash that she literally gets no oxygen.
I do not want to "badmouth" the trainers of Lil's class for the most part they seem to be helping the other puppy's...it just feels to me that they are trying to send Lil backwards and that is not a direction Lil is willing to travel...

On the up side of things...When we were at our last class I bought Lil a new leash and collar with little ladybugs all over them and while I was paying for them I was talking to the girl behind the desk about how Lil isn't fabulous at the "walking" thing and the girl gave me a couple of really great tips on how to get Lil to be a little more "enjoyable" on a walk...I have since tried them and Lil and I have been practicing them and we both seem to agree that walking in this manner is much more fun for both of us..."Maybe the girl behind the desk" should be "The girl in the front of the pup class on that great big rubber floor"....

Oooops...I almost forgot to say Thank You All for all of your great advice...Lil and I appreciate any thing you might come up with and we both agree (I am speaking on her behalf) that anything you might think of in the future we would love to hear...we are open to any and all suggestions and tips on the training of "us". Thanks Again You Guys Are Awesome!!

Lesson 2...

Lilli's second class went much like the first...I could go into great detail and bore you all to death but instead lets just say this...our class instructors...both of them kept acting as though I was completely incompetent and had know idea what the heck I was doing...I will admit that they were mostly right and I was starting to get really frustrated and impatient with Lil, I think they could both see the frustration because at one point one of them came over and took Lil's leash and proceeded to try and get her to sit...she refused and made it known that she would continue to refuse until Hell froze over...dog trainer "pro" refused to give into tiny four legged beast and so a power struggle started...Lil won. The trainer then hauled Lil's little fannie over to trainer number 2 and informed him that Lil wouldn't sit...Trainer 2 then took up the fight...no luck for him either, so his response to me was this..."this here dog has an Extreme Alpha personality Good Luck getting her to bow down to you".
And that was Lesson 2....

Mixed Emotions: Removing the Past...

Yesterday Kruze and I spent the day removing an old shed (water pump house). It was falling apart and one whole wall was being held up by a tree that completely surrounded the entire shed. The only thing keeping the structure from looking like a huge pile of rubble was the tree. There is an open well beneath the shed and we needed to access the well so that we can use the water to irrigate the garden. Kruze had knocked the shed over with a massive sledge hammer last week so I do not have any recent pictures of it still standing...though I did post a few of it last year. It took us most of the day to remove all of the junk that was left after Kruze knocked it down. We did find some interesting things in the mess though...a bunch of big old horse shoes...some antique tools...some old metal oil cans with very interesting color and shape...nothing worth any money but very interesting to see bits of the past...Here are some pics of the disposal...try to picture the end result with lots and lots of flowers planted around it and a fieldstone path leading to the cement foundation...it has potential to be something very beautiful you just need to imagine it...

If You Retch Easily...Read No Further...

Last night was Lilli's first Obedience class (it was actually the second class but our dogs were not allowed to attend the first one...as the instructors were about to unleash top secret dog training tips that were off limits to canine ears).
I was completely vexed by what I was sure was going to be a nightmarish hour of me trying desperately not to look and act like a fool while my dog paraded around the black rubber warehouse floor all puffed up and looking like a mini Terminator. "Vex"ation was complete with-in the first 5 minutes that Lil and I were in the building...she literally pounced on and viciously attacked a tiny timid Cocker Spaniel puppy who then proceeded to wet himself all over the entrance floor while his owner glared at me and wisked him away from the demon dog from hell.We were making enemies fast. I could barely handle the outward display of rejection that was being offered up to Lil and I in oversized doses. I wanted to let go of the leash and pretend I had know affiliation to the nasty little Jack Russell...unfortunatly it was too late I had already been seen wrestling her to the rubber floor while trying to shove hotdogs in her mouth and begging her to please stop trying to kill her classmates. For the most part the instructors were friendly to us though I could tell -call it womans intuition- or maybe it was the squinty-eyed sideways glances when they thought I wasn't looking- that they were irritated by my lack of any sort of control over my dog. Heres what I was thinking at the time:
My dog is an absolute horror of a student please I beg of you,send a tutor
over here to this corner we have been banished to, so that I may in some way learn a small piece of dog obedience wisdom in this hour of lessons...Nope...they ignored us much like the kindergarten teacher ignores the loud humming nose picker.
Not only did my sweet baby try to rip the throat out of the giant lumbering Great Dane puppy, she also squatted in the middle of my sit command and peed a puddle that took me almost an entire roll of paper towel to clean up (of course I was being scrutinized by the other owners during the cleanup), she also pooped during free time and once again I was forced to dispose of her waste in front of an audience...Geez you would think people could at least leave you with a shread of dignity by turning their heads while your up to your wrists in poop...
The night was not a complete wash...
After class when all the puppys and owners were leaving I stayed behind with Lil and asked one of the instructors what I am doing wrong...her response..."pretty much everything"...so now I know... and that was Lesson 1....

Corn...Far as the eye can see... 

Floatin' Boats....

Em and Sar and I have a summer activity that we force on anyone that happens to spend the day with us...(these are all willing victims). We have a favorite spot to hang out, I have posted a million pictures of this secret spot...it is a small rapids in the middle of the woods in a park on the edge of a town near our home. It's beautiful and quiet and the absolute perfect place for picture taking. It's also the perfect spot for our summer activity: we make boats and then have races down the rapids and under the bridge...the winner gets bragging rights. There are very few rules and regulations...mostly anything goes the only rules are: everything that you use to make your boat needs to be found in the woods nothing can be brought with you from home, it can be as elaborate or as simple as big or small as you wish. We have forced mostly all of Em and Sar's friends and their cousin's and my friends kids to play the boat game its a great time and we all usually end up soaked and laughing...especially if someone's boat sinks. I would recommend spending a day floatin' boats...its fun and free and something that I hope my girls will always remember...

Pics from our recent Boat Floatin' Day spent with my sister and nephews :


Spiderweb...

Jake...

Anna...

Em...

From a distance...

Sar...

Shadow...

TJ and Sar...

Me...

Happy 2nd Birthday Mason...Your God-Mommy Loves Your Little Pea-Pickin' Heart!! 

Dirt and Sparkly Pink Fingernails...

Yesterday I spent the day in my garden trying to make it look less like I am purposely trying to cultivate weeds. There were weeds from one end to the other. The entire ground was green and that would be fine if the green served some sort of nutritional purpose...nope just life-sucking useless green harbingers of death...I still have at least another days worth of weeding to do and already my fingers look like they are attached to the wrists of a wild woman. My pretty pink nail polish is barely visible under the green stains and dirt...and just so that you all know I did wash my hands and scrub them, in fact I scrubbed them so much I am surprized my skin is still clinging to the bones...and still the green and dirt remains...I could wear gloves and it would make life easier, my hands would still look like they belong to a woman...but have you ever tried to pull weeds with gloves on? It takes all of the excitment and joy right out of grabbing the weed around its scrawny neck and ripping it mercilessly from the ground...I need to feel the dirt with my bare hands, gloves just steal the magic.
I would post a before pic so that you can truely understand the wreckage that was my garden...but it was just WAY too embarrassing and a disgrace to gardeners every where...in fact I swear I could see a look of disgust on our farmers face as he drove his big-ass new tractor past my garden and I am pretty sure I know what he was thinking too...that woman still "ain't" country...

Extreme Hyperventilation...

Overconfident-Mini-Dictator....

Lil has taken over the house in a short 6 months...she has completely wrapped every person in this house around her tiny paw. She struts through the house with her head held high her nose in the air and a "don't even think about messin' with me" expression all over her furry face...I swear if I let her have control of our stereo Rap music would screech throughout the house all day long...she has that "I am the lord and leader" all others shall kneel before me, additude. You may think that I am exaggerating...I wish I were. She does have her moments of sweetness don't get me wrong...I will always look forward to her nibble-kisses...she licks my whole face and gets it all sloppy and then when she thinks she showered enough love all over my cheeks she nibbles just to show that she is still in charge...kind of keepin' me in line with the teeth.
She is now enrolled in the "take your puppy's additude down a notch or two" puppy obedience classes, 8 weeks of puppy behavioral management...we shall see...I talked to the woman that teaches the courses before I enrolled Lil, I wanted her to be aware of the fact that Lil thinks she weighs 250 pounds and will pick fights accordingly, I thought it was in her best interest to know that she wasn't dealing with an amature, when it comes to misbehavin Lil has got it all wrapped up and I think the instructor is going to have a major run for her money...we may even be expelled from the class. I am preparing myself for extreme embarrassment at the paws of my "Jack-ass Russell" (I mean that in the most lovingly adoring way)...

Great Big Monstrously Huge Apologies...

I am so sorry that it has been so long since my last post...I know that it isn't like you all are sittin' on your computers anxiously awaiting my next post or anything...but if you are anything like me you have a routine of checkin' in on the daily blogs to see whats happenin' with everyone. So if ya normally check in on this one I am so sorry for messin' up your routine. We were experiencing some techincal difficulties in the household...more to the point...our Laptop has been misbehavin' so I haven't been able to post or check my favorite blogs without having to wait for an ungodly amount of time for things to load.
I do have a bunch of pics to post from Memorial Day weekend...I will post them as soon as possible...